UHV women's soccer loses, but freshman gains confidence

Samantha Wooster wants to do well in her first season of collegiate soccer.

Working hard in practice and in UHV's previous games, the freshman made her sixth start Saturday.

The Jaguars (5-6) lost the game to Our Lady of the Lake 1-0 but not before Wooster took time to reflect on the chance to play college soccer right away.

"I was really excited (coach Adrian Rigby) let me stay in after the goal that went in," Wooster said. "It just gave me the chance to prove to him that I can be in that game to make up for my mistakes."

The Pflugerville native made 11 saves for the Jaguars on Saturday.

The Saints (9-1-1) had 12 shots on goal, seven of which came in the first half. The Jaguars, meanwhile, had four shots on goal the whole game, a big change becasue they did not have a shot on goal in the first half of play.

Rigby left Wooster in after the first half goal, which came after a red card was given to Jaguars freshman Stephanie Valdes in the 22nd minute. Junior Stephanie Diaz scored in the 22nd minute for the Saints on a rebound following a penalty kick.

Rigby believed the one goal wasn't necessary to take out the freshman.

"Usually, you just got to go with what you've seen in practice," Rigby said. "She and (Jennifer) Sanchez have stepped up their games. It's just one of those things that she gave up a rebound, but the other thing I'm more concerned about is that our back never followed up to clear the rebound."

While Rigby was disappointed about the match, he was pleased with the way the team handled itself during the match.

"Second half, we decided to play," Rigby said. "First half, we played with zero emotion, zero energy. The girls stepped it up a little bit, but they have to play 90 minutes with that kind of energy and emotion."

Saturday ended the Jaguars' four-game home winning streak. Wooster and the Jaguars will forget Saturday's loss but will take away lessons from the game.

"I think we just know that we can work hard," Wooster said. "Now, we have to do it 100 percent of the game instead of just the last half. Moving forward, we need to work our butts off. We deserve better than what we've been playing."

Men's winning streak snapped

The last time the Jaguars experienced a loss was in August against Our Lady of the Lake 2-0.

Ironically, Saturday the Jaguars (8-3) played the Saints (7-2) again and were shut out again 3-0. The loss ended their seven-game winning streak.

"We just weren't very sharp today at all," Rigby said. "It's really one of those things; they just have our number this year."

Saturday was a new experience for the Jaguars, one that Rigby hopes the team learns from.

"Games like these, they can come back and haunt you when you're looking for a conference tournament bid or a national tournament bid," Rigby said. "We just got to find a way to get back on the right track."